Staff, former students react to school closing

With the closing of Wood Creek Academy in Thompson Falls, some involved with the school and other community members have expressed their thoughts.

The average stay for a student at Wood Creek Academy was 14 months, and the boarding school took in students ages 12 to 18 from all over the country. When students turned 18, they had the choice to check themselves out. Harold Farrington, a former Wood Creek employee, spoke of one young man he remembers who graduated and moved home. When he fell back into trouble the individual asked to come back to Wood Creek Academy. Farrington understood the young man did so because he believed it was a safe place for him to get back on track. “They’ve (Wood Creek Academy) done a lot of good for a lot of kids,” Farrington stated. “There’s always a few you aren’t going to help at all, but the majority you do.”

Cheryl Patterson, a guardian of a former student, said her son was there for more than 20 months. “The skills and the confidence and the molding… This program worked,” said Patterson. “This is a disaster. My heart went into my stomach,” she said of the program’s closing. Patterson said her son elected to stay when he turned 18 because he believed the school was good for him. After he graduated, Patterson’s son got into an altercation with his alcoholic father. Patterson said her son wanted to call Sean Thorne, one of the staff at Wood Creek Academy. She explained that her adopted grandson considered “Mr. Sean” to be his mentor and called him when he felt he had nowhere else to turn, even long after attending Wood Creek Academy.

Kristian Thomas, a former student, said the boarding school was a life-changing experience for him. “That place kind of gave me life,” Thomas said. The only concern he had was there may have been some of the staff flaunting their authority too much, and not enough training for staff who could be too rough when restraining difficult students.

Wood Creek Academy has been a fully accredited private high school for eight years and includes a therapeutic element. It was licensed through the state Department of Public Health and Human Services and taught life skills through work with animals and community service. They also contracted Camp Bighorn near Paradise for outdoor interests and extracurricular activities. According to Danice Thorne, the owner and executive director for Wood Creek Academy, the school helped kids cope with loss and failure and promoted determination. She explained that they wanted to turn that defiance into determination. “When they first get here it’s scary as heck,” said Thorne. Eventually, Thorne explained, “They (the students) learn to take ownership of the person they are becoming,” and they become proud of that new person.

These kinds of programs must charge tuition to families because they are not eligible for any state or federal funding as they are not considered clinical patient services like a treatment facility. This means that the school must be fully self-supporting, unlike private clinics, which can also charge tuition. “If there’s not programs like this, where do these kids go?” asked Thorne.

“These programs deal with regulators, inspections, investigations, troubled boys and scared, frantic parents,” said Daniel Moore of Thompson Falls, whose son attended Wood Creek Academy. “It is heartbreaking when these folks finally run out of gas. It takes an amazing daily commitment to do this work. It is often thankless, and burnout happens.”

The future of Wood Creek Academy is unclear. Jean Morrison, who taught language arts at the school for several years, wants to see it reincarnated or continued. “There are enough of us who would help in the various ways that are needed,”' Morrison said. Others, like Thorne herself, want to take a step back and focus on advocating for a brighter future for programs. “These staff are very dedicated to these kiddos and their families,” said Thorne, speaking of the school’s closure. “There’s got to be a better way to go through this process. We have our faults, but my hope is that we make the process better. I don’t want future programs to be constantly looking over their shoulder instead of working on their kids.”

Thorne wanted to express a big thanks to many of the people who helped Wood Creek Academy work for so many years, including Bruce and Laura Donaldson, Don Burrell, Jean Morrison, Camp Bighorn, the Helveys, Rita Lundgren, Jennifer Fielder, Bob Crowder, John Muster and Charlie Denson. “I wish to thank the residents of Sanders County, especially the citizens of Thompson Falls, for allowing our boys to be of service to them over the past 16 years,” said Laura Donaldson, the school administrator at Wood Creek Academy. “It has been our pleasure to serve you.”